We did not get away from our park very early today. Just seemed to be a lot of little things to get done, but we finally got away before noon.

We first stopped at Walmart to get fuel. We saved $0.10/gal. by using the Walmart card for a cost of $3.08 per gallon. We wanted to fill up in Missouri as it is a bit higher in Arkansas and Oklahoma.

We are at Lakeside RV park near Sallisaw, OK. less than 200 miles from where we started this morning. Tomorrow we will get an earlier start and hopefully make a lot more miles toward our destination.

Our photos are of the Boston Mountains in Western Arkansas. They are quite picturesque this time of year with all of the changing colors and the rolling terrain.

The weather is warmer and we have had sunshine the last two days, so maybe it will stay nice and the wind down for the rest of our trip.

This is the office and our parking spot in Cuba, MO where we spent last night. They were really gearing up for Halloween with hay rides and all kinds of scary stuff.

We drove to Cuba after attending the hamfest near St. Louis. It was about a 70 mile drive. The hamfest was a bit discouraging as there were a lot of people but they kept their hands in their pockets. We sold several name badges but most were one and two line badges. Very few of the 3 line and those with emblems, etc. We about made expenses but not what we expected with an attendance that large.

We are currently in Carthage, MO where we have stayed several times, the Big Red Barn campground. The drive was quite windy and it was from the west and sometimes the southwest, Tomorrow we will be off toward Oklahoma and Texas and Hondo in the next few days.

As you know our plans are set in jello and sometimes they get changed around.

On Wednesday night we spent the night at the KOA west of Springfield. That evening I received a reply to an e-mail I had sent while we were in Illinois regarding a hamfest in Kirkwood, MO. Their website stated that all tables were sold out but I knew it was a fairly large hamfest and really wanted to go.

They said they had a table for us if we were interested. They knew we were in Springfield, many miles away. We decided to go back and attend anyway. We traveled back east to Cuba, MO for last night and tonight we are at the hamfest site in Kirkwood, MO and are all set up to go to work at 6:30am in the morning.
They have 100+ tables and are expecting 1000+ in attendance. We have backtracked 1 tank of fuel but we will make that back in a short time in the morning. Then, it will be back west toward our destination of Hondo, Texas.

We could not get the baseball game last night and was surprised to hear that St. Louis won in 11 innings. Being in a surburb of St. Louis we have a good picture and are enjoying the game.

We may go back to Cuba tomorrow afternoon for the night.

Our photos are of the fall colors along I44 in Missouri.

This morning it was off from the beautiful lake and back on US50. We traveled west toward St. Louis and the famous arch and I44.

The traffic in St. Louis was quite heavy and there were 3 highways to keep track of, all going basically different directions from the city. At one place the are 4 lanes that split, all going the same way and place. So it makes no difference if you take the two lanes to the left or two lanes to the right, they all come out the same place. A very strange situation, but the signs do say that all lanes (highways) go to the same place.

Some time after we left St. Louis the phone rang and it was our good friends Carol and Richard. They have been on a 3+ week vacation to the west coast and were on their way to Ozark, MO to eat at Lamberts restaurant, the home of 'throwed rolls'. They were to call us when they were ready to get back on the road and after some quick calculations we decided to meet at exit 88 on I44. We arrived first and found a TA travel plaza and gave them a call. They arrived a few minutes later and we had a nice visit with them. What a nice way to meet good friends way out in the middle of the country both going different directions.
They were on their way home and will be there tomorrow and we are just starting our winter journey to the southwest and warmer weather.

Tomorrow we will be off toward Oklahoma and more interesting country to see.

We are still on the lake. The winds came up during the night and have continued all day. There are white caps on the water and the wind has been gusting to 20-30mph all day. It is supposed to bring in rain tonight. We may stay another day depending on the rain as well as the wind.

Today we took a tour of Carlyle, a nice little town that seems geared to the lake and tourism.

We will see what happens in the morning. we may hit the road or we may stay another day. We are not in a big hurry so another day or two will not make a difference. Camping here is only $9.00 per day, so it is not that expensive and you have to eat wherever you are.

We have some more photos of our parking spot on the water as well as the colors and the rough water we have seen all day.

Maybe tomorrow we can get back on the road.

This was not necessarily a day of rest, but one for appreciating a beautiful day and a spectacular lake. The water is alive with fish. The shad were jumping all day almost everywhere you looked. The gulls were having a heyday feeding on all the fish.

The colors are really beautiful this time of year. There were several sail boats out today. I am sure there were a lot of them on the water over the weekend.


We enjoyed the day with a tour of the campground and the sun was out all day with a light breeze making for a very enjoyable afternoon.

Our photos are of the lake looking toward the dam, some beautiful colors and a shot toward the marina and all the sail boats.

It is off tomorrow for St.Louis and points west.

We are back on the road again. Not that we have not been traveling, I just have not been blogging.

In the last 4 to 6 weeks we have been to South Carolina and back for some more Dr. appointments and now we are off to Texas and points west for the winter.

We got away from the Whiteriver RV park in Strawtown, IN about 9am, dumped the holding tanks, got gas at Meijer's and met Andrew to get the last of the mail, etc. and say good bye to him.

We were on the road about 11am and headed west from Indianapolis on I70 for a short ways then north to Plainfield and US40 as I70 is under construction between Indianapolis and Cloverdale or about 45 miles. US40 is dual lane and divided and really a nice road. Very little traffic and only a few towns with one stoplight in the center of town.

On west to Terre Haute and down US41 toward Vincennes and US50 and west into Illinois. We stopped at Carlyle, IL and are at the COE park on the lake for a couple of nights. We are parked about 50ft from the waters edge with lots of water to view. Lots of gulls, ducks, squirrels, etc. It was only $9.00 per night so we decided to stay two nights and will get back on the road on Tuesday.

Our photo is of the court house in Brazil, IN. Typical of many constructed of local limestone.

This last week end was spent in South Carolina visiting with Evelyn's son, grand daughters and great grand children.

We met them at the Texas Roadhouse for dinner on Saturday and then Sunday afternoon they all came to the state park where we were located for a picnic.

A great time was had by all with plenty to eat including hamburgers, hot dogs and the traditional roasted marshmallows.

Monday, Evelyn went to town to meet with granddaughter Mandy to do some shopping.

Tuesday she went to the laundry and got everything washed up ready for a few days on the road.

This morning we broke camp and hooked up the van and traveled a short way to Albany, GA close to our next hamfest. We will be here a couple of nights and Friday morning we will go to the hamfest site and set up for the show on Saturday.

So, it will be relax and take it easy tomorrow getting rested up for Saturday.

The weather has been very nice, in the upper 70's and lower 80's and around 50 at night. A nice change from what we had in Wisconsin and then in the 100's in Kansas and Oklahoma.

Hopefully we can stay warm until we get out west where it will be more comfortable for us snow birds.